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About Google Book Search Google's mission is to organize the world's information and to make it universally accessible and useful. Google Book Search helps readers discover the world's books while helping authors and publishers reach new audiences. You can search through I lie lull lexl of 1 1 us book on I lie web al |_-.:. :.-.-:: / / books . qooqle . com/| I Orha Fitch Butler, Ph.D., "07| N The Rise of a Soul A STIMULUS TO PERSONAL PROGRESS and DEVELOPMENT BY irfrj JAMES irVANCE, D.D. Author of "Royal Manhood," "The Young Man Four- Square," "The College of Apostles," "Church Portals," $U. NEW YORK CHICAGO TORONTO FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY 1902 Copyright 1902 by FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY (June) 4 Sometimes the soul climbs slowly, and three score years and ten are spent upon the altar stairs. Sometimes the climb is swifter than the light, c* and steps which outrun the flight of angel ^ wings y leave baby foot-prints on the altar stairs. e Uo tbe fl&emors of a Xittle ptlflttm Whose flight was from the cradle to the glory \ whose tiny grave is under Southern suns, and whose baby hands beckon us to the Summit, the book is dedicated. I How does the soul grow? Not all in a minute; Now it may lose ground, and now it may win it; ! Now it resolves, and again the will faileth; Now it rejoiceth, and now it bewaileth; Now its hopes fructify, then they are blighted; Now it walks suddenly, now gropes benighted; Fed by discouragements, taught by disaster; So it goes forward, now slower, now faster; Till, all the pain past, and failure made whole, It is full-grown, and the Lord rules the soul." Susan Coolidge. Begttett FOREWORD Goethe calls life " the childhood of immortal- ity/' and David calls eternal life the immortality of youth. The German singer does not contradict the Hebrew bard. Both poets are prophets of the soul's growth and development. It is this thought, which Goethe and David have in common, and whose message is the true gospel of human greatness, that measures itself into the chapters which follow. The writer's attempt is to tell the story of the rise of a soul in the four experiences of " Vision," " Shadows," " Ascent/' and " Summit." The first division is concerned with the pros- pect of the soul's possible greatness ; the second with the things which obscure the prospect ; the third with the steps and helps by which the up- ward climb is made ; and the fourth with the goal and its abiding value. The fundamental law throughout is, that soul- development is neither accidental nor mechanical, but organic and rational. The enabling force by which growth is achieved is divine energy im- parted through Jesus Christ and his Spirit to 7 8 Foreword human life. The crowning fact is the soul " creating its own destiny of power." The writer disclaims any intention of passing even indirectly on the merits of evolution as a theory of life. Granted a self-existent and all- sufficient God, and one may select his method of divine procedure without running disastrously into heresy. It is nevertheless worth asking the question whether God's methods some thousands of years ago, differed greatly from his methods now; or whether God's methods in nature contradict his methods in grace. When God grows a tree, he takes time. There is no arbitrary fiat speaking the tree, instanter and ex-nihilo, into the full perfection of stature and foliage; but long persistent growth, during which hindrances are overcome; helps from soil and sky, from sunshine and moisture are appro- priated; conflicts with storm and drouth are waged and won; until at last and as a result of all, the sapling stands a giant oak in the forest close. Has God a different method of growing a 60Ul? Probably not, and in the pages which follow, the attempt is to tell some part of the story of the soul's growth from that life which is "the childhood of immortality," to that more abun- dant life, which has " the immortality of youth." 13 17 34 44 53 CONTENTS VISION I. Onwaid ahd Upward . II. A Man's Chance • ■ III. The Thus Great Verbs op Life . IV. The Altab Stairs .... V. The Greatness Men To-day Adore VI. A Man's Growth Toward God . SHADOWS VII. The Tragedy op Sin 65 VIII. The Taint in the Blood « 74 IX. The Sins op the Imagination • • 83 X. The Man Who Ends in Himself , • 97 ASCENT XI. God Believes in Us . ■ ■ ■ « 107 XII. The Atonement ...... 116 9 IO Contents CHAPTER PAW XIII. Is God Ancient History? » * 128 XIV. The Silence of God * . 141 XV. The Centuries Against the Hours • 150 XVI. The Invisible Presence ♦ » • 160 XVII. Strength from Above • . 170 XVIII. The Terminals of Love . . * . 180 XIX. The Unearthly Christ . . . .189 XX. The Reincarnation » • . 203 SUMMIT XXI. Life, Life, Victorious Life! . » » 217 XXII. The Everlasting Reality of Religion . 230 VISION SB "Children of yesterday, Heirs of to-morrow, What are you weaving? Labor and sorrow? Look to your looms again,— Faster and faster Fly the great shuttles Prepared by the Master. Life's in the loom, Room for it,— Room I " Ma&y A. Lathbury< The Rise of a Soul l ONWARD AND UPWARD. "Lift up my face and go, Look out upon the light, and up and so, Leaving Despair, Push on to nobler things to do and dare; For thy sweet sake,— and His Whose glory is Revealed to thee so soon, — and be What your bright thought could wish for me, A pure true life, Brought nearer heaven and thee by each day's strife: Love crystalised to deeds, remembrance purified, By keeping close to Him, and close to thee, my Glori- fied." George Klingle. Life is a mountain climb with the sun's kiss and a clear sky at the summit. God wants man to be perfect. It need not take any one who thinks, very long to reach that conclusion. The goal of the divine purpose is not a discord but a harmony, not a defeat but a victory, not a blemish but perfection. 14 The Rise of a Soul Man is very imperfect. It need not take any one who reflects very long to reach that conclu- sion. He falls short of the standard he sets for himself, and very far short of the standard set by his Maker. Human judgments are mingled with error, and human motives are mixed with prejudice. Conduct is faulty and character frail. God wants man perfect, and man is very im- perfect. Let those two facts stand side by side, confronted by a third. It is that man is not here by his own choice. He did not select his ances- tors, cannot control his circumstances, but an- cestors and circumstances largely determine him. With such a premise it is hard to escape the conclusion that God is in some way responsible for man's failure to be all that God wants him tq^be. It seems scarcely fair to unload the en- tire burden of responsibility on the shoulders of poor old Adam, who has quite enough to do in bearing his own burden. To say that the condi- tion is accidental dodges the issue. It must be part of the divine plan. If so, the greatest glory for a human life, at present, is the climb up out of the imperfect toward the perfect. God is working to produce character. Character is the outcome of struggle. There is a vast difference between a foundry and a forge. A foundry works with fluid and mould. Its product is brittle casting. A forge works with bar iron and furnace fire and anvil stroke. Its product is stiff steel. Onward and Upward 15 God's smithy is not a foundry but a forge, and "Life 19 not as idle ore, But iron dug from central gloom, And heated hot with burning fears, And dipt in baths of hissing tears, And batter'd with the shocks of doom, To shape and use." * Just now a man's disgrace is not that he is im- perfect, but that he is content to be; and his glory is not that he is perfect but that he wants to be and is struggling to be. Growth is the soul's grandeur. A gold dollar is a good dollar, but it can never be more than it is. It is a thing, and things do not grow. The soul may ever be becoming, rising into an ampler world, expand- ing into larger powers, commanding fuller sweeps, achieving diviner sympathies. Here is the meaning of all struggles and hardships. They are growing pains. The soul is bursting its bands and breaking its tethers. Down at the bottom is man's " nothing per- fect." Up at the summit is God's " all complete." The victory of life is the climb out of man's nothing perfect toward God's all complete. The steps by which the ascent is made are altar stairs. Every tug in the toilsome mount is an act of worship. The totality of struggle is the measure of life's greatness. Sometimes the altar stairs are bathed in sun- shine, and every footfall is a lyric note. Again ♦Tennysonfs In Memoriam. 1 6 The Rise of a Soul they are mist-swathed and cloud-sHeathed, slop- ing through sufferings up to God, and the meas- ure is a dirge. Whether the sky be clear or gray, and whether the walk be sight or faith, the resolute soul ad- vances; treading now on bars of sunshine and anon stepping through deep draping shadows, but ever pressing a way that is onward and upward. n A man's chance "Take heart, the Master builds again; A charmed life old goodness hath; The tares may perish, but the grain Is not for death. God works in all things ; all obey His first propulsion from the night; Wake thou and watch! the world is gray With morning light ! " John G. Whittis. The Creator's purpose is the creature's chance. There was a vocal hour in the stretches of silence, when the Maker said to man, "Have do- minion."* Whether God spoke in prose or poetry is not important. The chief thing to notice is the fact that Deity was opening to human life the way to the throne. That pristine command of sovereign grace to sinless man, antedating the fall, is the record of a man's chance away back in the dawn of the world's first morning. ♦Gen. 1:28. 17 18 The Rise of a Soul The chance was sublime. It was God-given. It is permission, entreaty and command to- gether. Omnipotence opens the door of oppor- tunity and omniscience points out the path to glory. The man is fresh from the hand of God. The breath of divinity is on his face. He is but little lower than the angels. At his feet is the virgin world, its harmony broken as yet by no discord, its beauty spoiled by no blemish. It is peopled with creatures to serve and stocked with the limitless resources of divine provision. It is as good a world as God could make, and the man as kingly a man as divinity could fashion. God spake a great word into the man's soul, — "Have dominion." He tells him to take the throne and be the monarch of the world. That was the first man's sublime, inspiring chance. The pity is he lost it. The sceptre slipped from his hand and his dominion passed. He fell from his throne because he lost dominion over himself. He could not rule his own spirit. In- stead of the monarch of the world he became the victim of silly fears and superstitions and a vaga- bond upon the earth. Such is the first chapter in the study of the subject. A present-day man may say "If I could have the first man's chance, I'd do better. Let God give me an Adamic opportunity, let me stand that close to the Creator and look out upon a world as beautiful and untarnished and listen A Man's Chance 19 to a message as inspiring and commanding, and I would make my chance. I would establish my throne and retain my kingdom. If God had given to me the first man's chance, this old world would be a very different world to-day/' For- tunately, the first chapter in the record of a man's chance is not the last nor the only chapter. God gives every man a chance. No matter how weak or unworthy the man may be in him- self, the power which presides over the destiny of the race gives him a chance. God is not par- tial. He does not select a small coterie from the great crowd as the objects of his special favour and say to the rest of mankind, " Go to the waste heap." Neither does he start the soul so handi- capped by birth and circumstance as to make it impossible to rise. Omnipotence holds open the door of opportunity for all, and the chance given is ever a great and inspiring one. It is God's way of still saying to man, "Have dominion. Be a king. Assert yourself at the top of creation." One may be hampered, but God makes it pos- sible for him to achieve the best character and the noblest experience. He may not give him the chance of money or fame. The best chance is not necessarily struck in the register of coin. The highest success in life is not kept in pantry or wardrobe. The royal chance is the opportunity to live a true life. Life is more than meat and body than raiment. If one blesses the world by making it 20 The Rise of a Soul better, if he lives an honourable life, dies a peace- ful death and leaves behind a blessed memory, he has fought his battles to some purpose,, whether or not there be coin in his purse and renown to his name. God opens the treasury vaults of all the good when he says, " Ask and ye shall receive/' But for a chance to be worth much, one must be con- vinced of its reality. He must know it is there. The plows scraped the surface of Middle Ten- nessee soil for a century, and the farmers' songs were all of " hard times." Deeper down in the phosphate beds there was something better than a gold mine, but the farmers did not know their chance, and " hard times " held sway. One day a man saw the chance, showed it to his fel- lows, and " prosperity " became the favourite air. The soul's chance is not a fiction. As long as God says, "Have dominion," there is hope. "Despair" is a word to strike out of the dic- tionary of life. The future is before us^ the world is around us, God is above us. There is a chance. Let a man dare to believe it and the battle is half won. It may be only a fighting chance, but so long as God is well disposed, there is no room for despair. A man may lose his chance. The mere fact that he has it will not save it. He must make it. Men make opportunities far oftener than oppor- tunities men. The trouble is not that we have A Man's Chance ai lacked a chance but having possessed it, it Has been despised. Some men lose their chance through sheer stupidity. They are too dull to see it when it comes. They say, " It is a poor, starving world. All is common-place. Every day is a humdrum day and every hour uneventful. All the great opportunities are behind. It is useless to struggle or stay awake." One day a Nuremburg glass-cutter let some aquafortis fall on his spectacles. He noticed that the glass was softened and corroded where the acid fell. That was his chance. A stupid man would have said " My spectacles are ruined." This man drew some figures on a piece of glass, covered them with varnish, applied the acid and cut away the glass from around the figures. Then, removing the varnish., the figures appeared upon a dark ground, and etching upon glass was added to the ornamental arts. The men who have saved their chance have had sense enough to see it when it came. Some fail by despising the days of preparation. One must himself be ready for his opportunity when it comes. Most of us think after the crisis is over. The king thinks before the crisis comes. One must take advantage of his advantages. He may lose his chance a decade before it arrives. God has a splendid opportunity down in the calendar of every life. To meet it one must be something himself. 22 The Rise of a Soul To despise the days of preparation, to sur- render to vice, to rot down manhood with dis- sipation, is to defeat the good will of God. When opportunity comes, instead of a man, there is a midget. He may whine out, " I have lost my chance." Yes, he lost it twenty years before it came. Procrastination also defeats opportunity. The door swings open and shut. A man must enter while it is open. He must strike the iron while it is hot. The chance cannot be recalled when it has passed. New ones come, but die old ones, gone by, are gone forever. Chances are lost through selfishness and the preference of personal ease to future success. Indolence never gives birth to opportunity. A man must toil toward success. All the great statesmen, orators, scholars, soldiers, scientists, journalists, have been indefatigable workers. One may point to some commanding figure in church or state and say, " I wish I had that man's chance." He may if he is willing to do that man's work. Men have lost their chance through dishonour and dishonesty. There are some who might have stood royal among their fellows, but for the fact that they were scoundrels. In the stress of the crisis they betrayed their cause and their friends. That is one thing the world will not permanently abide. Honour alone lasts. Time has sharp and curious eyes. It pries into all secrets. Honour A Man's Chance 23 alone will stand the scrutiny of the centuries. The man who sells out has lost his chance. Many fail through despising trifles. A great chance usually does not come in with blare of trumpets. It announces its presence by a trifle. " The kingdom cometh not with observation." Many are after something imposing. They worship that which bulks. But the world has ever turned on pivot points, and the man of des- tiny has been careful of trifles. The greatest fortunes have often been built on an insignifi- cancy. The invention of the paragon frame for umbrellas made Samuel Fox a millionaire. Siemens, the man who invented the method of converting iron into steel, amassed by that alone, a fortune of twenty-five million dollars. One vote it is said, in the last analysis, and that the vote of a man who was brought from the corn field to the polls by one who paid him fifty cents for his day's work and gave him his boots to wear and his horse to ride, decided the succession of events which secured the admission of the State of Texas into the Union. Trifles are momentous. They are the door of limitless opportunity, creaking on its hinges. He who would capture the chance must keep his eyes open, his hands active and his head: pure. What are all these mistakes by which a man loses his chance but different forms of the one great mistake by which the first man lost his chance? They are but different forms of the 24 The Rise of a Soul loss of dominion over self. One must control himself. He must rule well the kingdom within before he can hope to subdue the world without. What is a man's chance to-day? Can it be said not to exist ? The man of the modern world has a chance the angels may well envy. The sky is not starless. To be a human being is to be clothed with divine possibilities. It is to stand within reach of the cross, within reach of a lost world, within reach of God's heaven. That chance is sublime. There is such a thing as the helplessness of the Almighty. A man may make a machine that can do what its maker cannot. So God's creature may reach a realm which God himself cannot occupy. God's helplessness creates man's chance. He can do some things which God cannot, and God is calling upon him to share in the redemption of the world. It is his chance to join forces witK God and build here on the ruins of that pristine paradise a better, diviner world than ever lay at Adam's feet. A man's chance to-day is bigger and better than ever before. He may pine for paradise and sigh to stand back in the dawn of the world's first morning, with the unspoiled earth outspread around him, and hear God say '*' Have dominion." Far better is it to stand in the midst of the modern world, with its rich, resourceful life throbbing A Man's Chance 25 in the manifold activities of the masterful present, and hear God's command to take the throne. This is a better world than Adam's. A man has a better chance. The Garden of Eden was limited. All that one could do was to vegetate. Man has vastly more power now, more knowl- edge, more opportunity. The forces of the world are under his fingers. He has chained the lightning, bridled the wind, and made the clouds his wings. The world is roomier. Why should a sensible man want to go back to the Garden of Eden? A sinner saved by grace and lifted into the glory of fellowship with Christ is higher up toward God than Adam's "a little lower than the angels." God stands a man in the midst of this modern world, amid all its inventions and discoveries, and says, " Have dominion." He stands him in the libraries of the world and says, " Have dominion." He stands him in the council chambers of the nations and in the parliament of the universe, and says, " Have dominion." In the " centre of im- ■ mensities, in the conflux of eternities," Jehovah stands the modern man and bids him govern all. This is his chance. It is divine. It is enough to thrill a stone with life and transfuse a clod with passion for immortality. in THE THREE GREAT VERBS OF LIFE " Pigmies are pigmies still; though perched on Alps, And pyramids are pyramids in vales, Each man makes his own stature, builds himself; Virtue alone outbuilds the pyramids ; Her monuments shall last, when Egypt's fall— 'Tis moral grandeur makes the mighty man;" Youwo. There are three sovereign life-verbs, whose conjugation in all the voices and moods and tenses of being, exploits existence; and whose relative position to each other in the individual career, defines rank and determines destiny. The first of the trinity is the verb " to have." Its realm is the kingdom of property, and its throne-thought is wealth. God recognises the important place which the verb to have occupies in solving the problem of life. Perhaps nine-tenths of all the motives by which he incites to the duties and graces of the Christian life may be uttered in terms of the verb to have. He says, " You shall have." He prom- ises to give pardon, peace, life, joy, happiness, 96 The Three Great Verbs of Life 27 success. All of this is so much spiritual coin, with which the Maker would lure the creature on to the best. If God appeals to the instinct for gain, to ac- quire cannot be wholly wrong. The desire to have is inborn. Man is a con- stitutional seeker. His extremities are armed with Hands whicfi grasp and hold. He who deliberately prefers penury to opulence is a freak. The deliberate election of want over plenty is in- sanity. Property means ability. Wealth is power. It brings things to pass. It is the god who answers many an earnest prayer. There is no virtue in poverty as such, nor any crime in wealth. It is not strange, therefore, J:hat people should be estimated by what they Have. A man of wealth is a man of importance. Strip him of his wealth and he may lose his importance. Prop- erty is a lofty and commanding influence in the councils of human life. Is money an infallible standard of greatness? Is the plutocrat the king of men ? Before giving an answer it will be well to bear in mind some things on the other side. Money may degenerate into a curse. It may become a tyrannical master instead of a servant. Instead of owning your wealth it may own you. When once the love of gain has gotten the com- plete mastery of a human life, it turns loose a brood of demon-passions,— avarice, greed, covet- 28 The Rise of a Soul ousness, lust, — which feed like vultures cm the nobler self. The miser is the apostacy of wealth. He is in abject servitude to a mere thing. He lives in the ante-room of hell. His countenance is the ex- pression of a lost soul. His eyes are flames of unrest flaring in sockets of greed. His heart is a fagot in the furnace fires of torment. There must be something greater for a human life than to be able to conjugate the verb to have. Man fails to reach his serene grandeur in wealth. What a fall to dwindle down into nothing but an attachment to a bank account ; or a figure-head with which to mark a transition in the title to real estate. Estimated by the verb to have the apostles were insignificant. Judged by their wealth, genius and learning must take a lowly place, and Jesus of Nazareth rank below medi- ocrity. There is something beyond the verb to have. There is the verb " to do." Its realm is not the kingdom of property bdt the kingdom of serv- ice, and its throne-thought is not wealth but strength. God also recognises the high place which the verb to do has in solving the problem of life. Perhaps nine-tenths of all that he demands may be uttered in terms of the verb to do. He calls for service. We have a way of estimating people by their views. A man of certain views is a very good man, while one of opposite views is a The Three Great Verbs of Life 29 very bad man. A man of our views is a prophet, and a man who opposes our views is a heretic. Christ did not say " by their views ye shall know them," but " by their fruits ye shall know them." The divine emphasis is on deeds rather than creeds, and the ideal life is that which goes about doing good. What the world needs is service. Its hurts are not healed by theories. To hold a mass-meeting, have a discussion, adopt resolutions, and appoint committees which never meet is merely to open a harmless vent for the people's indignation against public wrong. Passionate tirades, windy pub- lications, eternal talk are not the medicine for social and commercial infirmities. Something needs to be done. The mission of strength is service. It cannot be hoarded. If it is not used it will cease. Exer- cise is the law of vitality, and service the source as well as the expression of strength. The high place occupied by the verb to do is seen also in the character of the heavenly reward. There the great question will not be : " What have you," but "what have you done?" The life which takes its place on God's right hand must merit, " Well done." Christ's comrades in glory will be those who have done something. Life is not the spectacular display of one's things in a show window, with a spieler on the sidewalk to cry out their virtues. Life is going about doing good. At last it will be discovered that 30 The Rise of a Soul many, who had very little, rank higher because they did good as they had opportunity. Is the verb to do as high as the soul can go in the climb to greatness ? Before one can do, there must be the power or the ability to do. The locomotive must have power in the boilers if it is to pull out of the trainshed. The trolley car stands helpless on the track until it draws on the dynamo at the power house. There is something beyond the ceaseless dinning of the verb to do. It is reached in the last of the trinity of life- words. The greatest of the three great verbs of life is not the verb "to have/' nor the verb "to do," but the verb " to be." Its realm is not the king- dom of property, nor of service, but of character. Its throne-thought is not wealth nor strength, but conviction. Here God lays the stress. Earth may ask "What have you?" Heaven may ask "What did you?" But the God of all the ages asks: "What are you?" The highest command is not " Take heed unto thy wealth," nor " Take heed unto thy service," but " Take heed unto thyself." * The first king- dom to be sought is God's, and that kingdom is within. It is not meat and drink but character. What one is dominates what he has and de- termines what he does. Convictions control property. Its use or abuse, *i Tim. 4:16. The Three Great Verbs of Life 31 in the last analysis, is the expression of what one is. The only thing that can save riches from becoming a disaster is character. The more one has the more he needs to be. Convictions are likewise the motive power of service. One's deeds are the expression of his faith. In the domain of service one will not fall below himself, nor can he rise above himself. In the world to come the crisis will speak at the mark of character. As life enters the highest realm it leaves things behind. All of service it can take, is the story of it. Self abides, and the totality of what a man is survives and stands forth in the absolute and exact measurements of the verb to be. " I myself am heaven and hell." Therefore, the main business of life must be the making of a man, the building of a character. The soul's supremest glory is its ability to conjugate in all worlds, and in all the voices and moods and tenses of existence the sovereign greatness of the verb to be. To become is to be great ; and to be great is to achieve the evolution of self -dignity, the develop- ment of soul-power, the culture and growth of mental and moral being, and the imperative in- sistence of life for more room. The mission of the World's Redeemer is to enable the soul to achieve the infinite possibilities of the verb to be. He does not always say " You shall have." He 32 The Rise of a Soul may keep the soul poor in things and decree that, for the present, the discipline of hardship and privation is best. He does not always say, " You shall do." There are saintly lives shut in rooms of invalidism, or fastened down to chairs of in- action and infirmity ; to whom God gives the sac- rament of pain, and in whom he is seeking the grace of patience. But every soul, whether it have little or much, whether its residence be in the solitary room or in the hurrying crowd, has permission to mount the throne of conviction and reign as monarch in the kingdom of character. The Maker sees not only what we are but what we may be. The vision of grace is unto the top of the altar stairs, and the effort of grace is to make its vision a reality. The struggle to be is the soul's master effort. For sake of that one does well to count every sacrifice a boon, welcome every hardship a bless- ing, and hail every cross a ladder on which to climb to greatness. If God calls, the way is open to become. The heir of the future must charge his soul with the goal of its highest victory and set his immortal spirit upon the quest of its supremest glory. u Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul, As the swift seasons roll, Leave thy low-vaulted past; Let each new temple, nobler than the last. The Three Great Verbs of Life 33 Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast; Till thou at length art free, Leaving thine out-grown shell by life's investing sea."* • Oliver W. Holmes. IV THE ALTAR STAIRS " The world's great altar stairs That slope through darkness up to God." Alfsid Tikkysok. Long ago a holy man, climbing life's altar stairs, shouted a great word of encouragement to his brothers struggling below him. "The God of all grace who hath called us unto his eternal gloiy * * * make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you." * He seemed to say, "There is a kingdom of glory at the summit but you must climb to reach it. In climbing there are at least three landings you must make. You must be stablished, strengthened, settled." These are the altar stair landings; and they mean that in the struggle out of the imperfect toward the perfect* there is something to believe, something to do, something to possess. Then comes the kingdom of glory. There is something to believe. Man is to be established. He is established when he believes. * i Pet s : 10. 34 The Altar Stain 35 "A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways." * He is established when his beliefs cease to be opinions and become convictions, and when these convictions command him. Faith is the first step in the climb out of human littleness. It is a step more difficult to achieve now than formerly. The old faiths have been assailed ; the new faiths have not been vindicated. What shall one believe? He must forge his creed for himself. He must achieve the altar- stair of faith rather than be lifted to it. If he does this in a manly way, he will need more than a medieval crutch for support. He must have the moral fibre and mental muscle which make a spiritual athlete. Satan is still in the world, but he has changed his appearance. Instead of horns, he has a shining bald pate ; instead of hoofs, he wears patent leathers; instead of breathing out fire and brimstone he smokes good Havanas ; and instead of going about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, he goes about with an encyclopedic expression of countenance and an agnostical sigh, trying to destroy faith in God. It has come to that pass where doubt is re- garded as an evidence of intellectual culture, and faith as a mark of mental decrepitude. Kate Douglas Wiggin in " Penelope's Prog- ress " charmingly depicts a Scotch maid whose entire repertory of conversation was exhausted in *Jas. 1:8. 36 The Rise of a^Soul 9 a single phrase with which she invariably replied to all questions. The only answer she deigned to give was " I could na' say." " Jean, is your mistress in?" "I could na' say." "Jean who lives next door? " " I could na' say." Jean is it raining?" Turning upon you her blue Scotch non-committal eyes, she would respond as was her custom " I could na' say." There is a notion prevalent that this is about as far as man can go in the climb toward God. Is the Bible inspired? Lazy doubt, at the foot of the altar stairs answers " I could not say ; I do not know." Is Jesus Christ divine? Is the soul immortal? Again modern unbelief idly rolls its lustreless orbs, and answers as is its custom, " I do not know." That sort of doubt never makes the first landing in the climb toward greatness. Doubt in itself is never mounting up to light, but ever plunging down deeper into darkness and despair. The man who thinks more of his doubts than he does of his faiths, who cultivates" his doubts and neglects his faiths, and who imagines that what he has been taught to believe is for that reason to be called in question, will soon find himself adrift on a shoreless sea, driving to the utter wreck of all religious hope and to the utter loss of all religious experience. The failure to achieve the landing of faith is the explanation of the easy victory which in- numerable silly 'isms win in the competition of creeds for converts. Anything that is persist- The Altar Stairs 37 ently preached -gets a following. Christian Science and its kindred delusions have gained a somewhat numerous clientage, despite the patent folly of their dogmas. How do sensible people reach the point where they, give a sincere and devout subscription to vagaries at once absurd and dangerous? The only explanation is, they have never been indoc- trinated in the fundamental truths of religious life. They are soul-hungry and are mistaking husks for kernels. They have never been estab- lished. Physical and mental culture are essential to success in' life, and the parent who denies his child either of these has shirked parental respon- sibility. More important, however is spiritual culture, and yet there is an impression that the child's soul must be allowed to vegetate, if it is to attain symmetric growth. As well try to keep a garden clean of weeds by neglect. The life that grows must be established. It must have beneath its feet not mud but rock; and for its residence not swamps but tableland. The second landing is strength. In climbing the altar stairs there is something to do. The thought behind strength is service. One has not completed the ascent to God when he has achieved a comfortable and orthodox creed. That is something to be sure. We are sometimes disposed to think it is all. In com- parison with the ultimate summit peak, it is only a foot-hill. Deeds are higher than creeds. 38 The Rise of a Soul Creeds are in order to deeds. Faith is not valuable for spectacular purposes. It secures value in proportion as it arrives at service. Be- hind the noblest service the world has known has been the staunchest faith. If faith is to keep the place to which it has climbed, it must go further. It must make the altar stair of service. The heroic chapters in human history tell how man has climbed from faith to strength on the stairway of service. For a century Holland, the then smallest of the nations, struggled against Spain, the then mightiest. The conflict was as desperate as it was long. But the Dutch were sustained by a mighty faith, and at last won their independence. Who that cares for courage and honours heroism but thrills at the story of the memorable siege of Ley den? The inhabitants had been reduced to such desperate straits that the only food left con- sisted of dogs and cats. Their enemies, in great derision, called them "dog and cat eaters/' Hear their dauntless reply. "As long as you shall hear the bark of a dog or the mew of a cat, know that the city holds. When these are gone, we will devour our left arms retaining our right to defend our homes and our freedom. When all else has failed we will with our own hands set fire to the city, and perish men, women, and children together, rather than see our families destroyed and our religion desecrated by the foreign tyrant." The Altar Stairs 39 No wonder tfie Dutch gained their independ- ence. Their faith in God was more than a dogma, it was the passion of their life. The trouble with many of the creeds of Chris- tendom is that they never take the field. They are permanent residents of the theological mummy crypt. If they are militant at all, they attach them- selves to the ambulance corps, or to the com- missary department, and fail to reach the firing line. The faith which is to lift the world must arrive at service. It must do something. Man is saved to serve. This second landing on the altar stairs must be climbed on the knees. Here weakness is strength. There must be sacrifice and self-abnegation, hu- mility and self crucifixion. " And thus looking within and around me, I ever renew (With that stoop of the soul which in bending upraises it too) The submission of man's nothing-perfect to God's all- complete, As by each new obeisance in spirit, I climb to His feet"* In the Cathedral of Cologne there is a rude oak image^ representing a giant with a child on his shoulder. It is called "Offero in search of a master." This is the legend of the image. * Robert Browning. 40 The Rise of a Soul Offero determined to serve none but the mightiest After diligent search he attached him- self to one whom he believed to be the greatest of monarchs. All went well until one day when Satan's name was mentioned, the king turned pale and trembled. Offero asked the cause of the king's fear, and was told ; " It is the Prince of darkness, for he is mightier than the king." That very day Offero went in search of Satan, and soon finding him enlisted in his service. All went well, until a certain day when as they ap- proached a cross on the highway Satan fell back trembling. When Offero asked the cause of Satan's fear, he was told : " It is the Christ, who rules in heaven, for he is mightiest of all." Then Offero went seeking for Christ. A bare- footed friar told him that if he would do good as he had opportunity, Christ would reveal himself. The giant built a hut by the riverside and devoted his life to good deeds. One dark night he heard a child calling, "Offero, come and carry me over." Lifting the child to his shoulder, he en- tered the ford. The winds blew fiercely, the burden on his shoulder grew heavier and seemed to crush him, the flood rose to his lips and he was near drowning. In the midst of the stream a supernatural strength seemed to be given him, and when he touched the farther bank, the Christ met him and said : " Inasmuch as thou hast done it unto one of these least, thou hast done it unto me* The Altar Stairs 41 The giant had climbed toward God on the altar stair of service. There is another landing still higher. A man is to be " settled." The thought behind this is the life of unbroken calm and quiet, contented peace. There is something to claim, something to possess. It is the divine bequest of peace. Reaching the last landing means getting above the storm line, above the frets and worries and distractions of the lower levels, into the great and sovereign composure of conscious and uninter- rupted communion with God. *' The Lord give thee peace." This is the voice which greets the climber at the third landing of the altar stairs. Peace is what the soul asks for at the foot of the stairs but it must be achieved before it can be possessed. One must scale the heights of faith and cross the fields of service, before he can dwell on the plains of peace. This country is not a mirage, but its stretches lie high and close to God. It is said that in the fiercest cyclone that sweeps the plain, there is one spot of perfect calm where a baby may lie unharmed. It is at the storm's centre. Whether that be true or not it is true that in this storm-swept tempest-driven world of ours there is one place of high and holy calm, of triumphant and imperturbable quiet, where the frailest life may dwell in perfect peace. It is at God's feet. There is something to believe, something to do, 42 The Rise of a SouF -i**** V ■»-••«# — ; « ! *i \ something to possess. Down at the foot "of "the stairs are we, and up at the top of the stairs the sweetest angel-voices gather to sing the call songs to the glory-land. We want the angels to come down to us, but God wants us to mount up to the angels. "Angels of growth! Did ye descend, what were ye more than I? ' Wait there — wait and invite me while I climb; For, see, I come ! but slow, but slow t Yet even as your chime, Soft and sublime, Lifts at my feet, they move, they go, Up the great stair of time." * Better than the angel-singers, tfie great Father is there at the top of the stairs stretching down a helping hand to those who are struggling up. As the soul listens, it hears the Father say, u Believe, all things are possible to him that be- lieveth. ,, The soul answers "Lord I believe, help thou my unbelief; " and lo the first landing in the life-climb is made. Again the soul hears the great Father say: "Do with thy might whatsoever thy hand findeth to do." The soul answers " Lord I am weak, out of my weakness ordain strength ; " and the landing of service is achieved. A third time God speaks: "Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I * David A. Wasson. The Altar Stairs 43 will give you rest. The soul answers: "Lord I am weary with the long journey and worn with the struggle. Tired and fainting I come, having heard the sweet angelus call of the Gospel, and I claim thy blessed bequest." The soul has reached the plains of peace, and from the plains of peace, one can look over into the kingdom of glory. V, THE GREATNESS MEN TO-DAY 'ADORE " ' Write me as one that loves his fellowmen/ " The angel wrote and vanished. The next night He came again with a great wakening light, And showed their names whom love of God had blessed. And, lo ! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest" Leigh Hunt. There was a day when men thought brawn was divinity. God was a muscular giant. Her- cules was worshipped. " Might makes right " was the supreme international law. Power was regarded as a virtue. It was the age of the divine right of strenuosity. Undoubtedly there was a great truth at the centre of the world's worship of brawn. There is no virtue in weakness and no glory in suicide. Might is greatness, but it is not summit great- ness. Then, in the evolution of humanity there came a day when man thought brain was divinity. God became an intellectual giant. The world deified its poets and philosophers. The arts flourished. It was the age of the divine right of 44 The Greatness Men To-day Adore 45 culture. Undoubtedly there was a great truth at the centre of the world's worship of brain. There is no virtue in stupidity, and no glory in igno- rance. Knowledge is power and thought is great- ness, but it is not summit greatness. Then, in the further evolution of humanity, Jesus of Nazareth appeared. He called himself " the Son of Man," and said : " The Son of Man came not to be ministered unto but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many." * From that day men have thought that service is divinity. God is the man of Galilee. The world has recognised the divinity of the minis- tering Christ. Power and culture reach their real glory only as they stoop to serve. The age of the divine right of unselfish devotion to the good of others is upon us; and the law for na- tions and individuals is the golden rule. The supreme fact about Christ, which stands high and clear above all else is that he lived for others. He was not a monarch but a minister, not a king but a servant. When he taught, he " spake as never man spake." He did not focus attention upon him- self. As one reads the sermon on the mount or the Passover discourse he is thinking not so much about the speaker as his message. The great- ness of Christ's miracles was not the display of supernatural power but the graciousness of deeds of mercy done to relieve the distressed and suf- * Matt. 20: 38, 46 The Rise of a Soul fering. When Christ drove the devils out of Legion and changed the man's residence from a graveyard to the living abodes of his fellow men, he was not thinking of himself. When he com- forted the woman that was a sinner, when he touched the leper, when he stopped the crowd to bless a timid woman whose trembling hand had touched the hem of his robe, Jesus was not trying to glorify himself. When he girded himself with a towel and washed his disciples' feet he was but giving expression to the most con- spicuous trait of his character. He was taking a servant's place. It is impossible to follow him for a single day or to live with him a single hour without being impressed with this fact. Even his vicarious sufferings do not attract attention so much to themselves as to the fact that they were endured for others. In the central glory of his passion, as he hung on the cross, the face of the penitent thief appears and the voice of the dying Christ breaks the silence with blessing for another. Is it irreverent to regard this incident of the penitent thief on the cross as an artistic effect, by which the serving Christ in the supreme moment of his crucifixion diverts the gaze of men and angels, focused on that central cross, from his own suf- ferings, to the object for which all was endured? The greatness of Jesus was the greatness of a servant. He was this, not because it chanced to be his lot. It was his by deliberate selection. It The Greatness Men To-day Adore 47 was not accidental but intentional. It was not forced but sought. It was Christ's eternal choice of a life-vocation. He was a self-elected sufferer for other sufferers 9 sakes. He could have escaped service had he cared. Nothing is plainer than the fact that Jesus could have commanded a life of ease. He could have brought the world to his feet and founded an earthly dynasty, had he cared to do so. The very angels seemed to vie with each other in the effort to serve him. Whenever the veil of the invisible world was lifted for a moment, celestial beings appeared swift and ambitious to minister to Christ. It was not hard fate which made him a servant. He deliberately preferred it. It was the ambition of his life. The thing which at- tracted him to earth was the chance to serve. The cross was not a dilemma but a goal. The agony in Gethsemane was no timid and cowardly shrinking from the cross which he had sought with all the passion of his life ; but the fear lest through extreme physical weakness Satan might at last cheat him of the supreme glory of that transcendent hour of unselfish service and suf- fering for others. Perhaps we have not listened aright to that most tragic cry of the deserted Christ on Calvary — " My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me," unless we discern in its muffled melancholy measure, at least one joyous, exultant note of victory. 48 The Rise of a Soul The world was counting the day of coronation the greatest ; but Christ has shown that the day of crucifixion is greater. The cross is higher than the crown. This is the explanation of the world's worship of Christ. It may not always measure up to it or even strive after it, but since the Nazarene ap- peared, the world's picture of divinity is not a king crowned in sceptred state, but a servant sharing the sorrows and lifting heavy burdens from the tired shoulders of his fellows. Had Christ won his way to greatness by any other path than the altar stairs of service, his glory would have passed. Had he been merely a great miracle worker the world would have wondered at him. Had he been merely a great teacher the world would have admired him. But because he became a minister and took the place of a servant, the world worships him. Christ came not to be a monarch but a minister, but because he was a minister he became mightier than a monarch. He came not to be a king but a servant, and because he was a servant he had more than kingly power. He came not to be an autocrat but a slave, and because he made himself of no reputation, he is adored as King of kings and Lord of lords. This is the greatness men to-day adore. It is the greatness which heaven has always adored. It is the greatness which having won its way to The Greatness Men To-day Adore 49 the throne in this world, will find crowns and thrones awaiting it in all worlds. What does it involve? There is demanded something more than serv- ice for the sake of those beloved. That may be but the gratification of a natural instinct. On a bleak day in February, 1901, a man at New Durham, N. J., sprang upon the railroad track before a passenger train running at full speed to rescue a child playing in that place of deadly peril. The boy was saved, the man was ground to death beneath the wheels. His deed was heroic but natural, for the lad was his own child. In one of the Eastern hospitals a man submitted to the removal of twenty square inches of cuticle from his living body that it might be grafted upon a woman whose body had been hor- ribly burned and mutilated in a fire. His sacri- fice was admirable but the woman for whom it was made was his wife to whom at the marriage altar he had plighted the troth which never knows doubt nor change. The service which achieves real greatness is serving for the love of serving. It is the de- liberate, persistent, and exultant preference of the life-role of servant over that of served. It is the choice of altar-stairs over throne-seats. It is esteeming the towel and basin of the ministering Christ above the girdle of royalty and the pomp and adulation of sceptre and crown. After all is said that can be said for ease and 50 The Rise of a Soul wealth, for genius and culture, for rank and place, the world reserves its profoundest respect and sincerest homage for the greatness which climbs on the altar-stairs of the dead self to higher things, and which finds its supreme joy and glory in sincere, unpretentious, unselfish de- votion to the good of others. In the first Presbyterian church of Nashville, Tenn., there is a saintly and devoted woman affectionately known to high and low, to rich and poor as "Miss Martha." She belongs to that class without which any church or community is poor, and who find their greatest joy in deeds of love and mercy to others. In the city was a woman who had known better days, but through the profligacy of a dissipated and improvident husband, she was forced to support herself and her three little children by sewing. She toiled early and late but the income was small. In the close air of the room where she worked, and under the strain of late hours the woman's health gave way. There came a day when she could no longer go to work. The doctor pronounced her case consumption. Soon want knocked at the door ; but fast upon the spectre of want came an angel in the guise of Miss Martha. The woman and her children were removed to the northern part of the city where the air was more bracing. The services of a trained nurse were se- cured. The children were cared for. Better than all else Miss Martha brightened the room The Greatness Men To-day Adore 51 with' her presence. Witfi cheering words and kindly ministrations of love she comforted the wan mother who tried to hope that with the coming of the spring, the dreadful cough might yield and health return. But that terrible dis- ease which marches with steady and unfaltering steps refused to mend, and after eight months of lingering illness the poor woman passed away. Her minister was with her a half hour before she died. The death damp was already on her brow and she knew that the end was near. He repeated the twenty-third Psalm, and in a short prayer asked that the crossing might be easy and triumphant. Then the sick woman called her aged mother to the bedside and bade her good bye. In the room was her uncle, an old Con- federate soldier whose eyes had been shot out in battle. The blind man was led to the bedside, and she asked him to meet her in heaven. Then turning to the minister she said " I know I am dying, and I do not mind it for myself; but how can I leave my children motherless? I believe God can make me well, even now, and if he will, — Ill promise him — if God will make me well, I'll promise him to be as good — as — I'll promise him to be as good as Miss Martha ! " She who had shown forth the greatness of un- selfish service for the good of others, had be- come to the woman's soul the clearest revelation of goodness. From the radiant presence of the ministering servant it was an easy passage for 52 The Rise of a Soul the dying mother through the shadow into the more radiant presence of the ministering Saviour. " These are the heroes men to-day adore, These are the valiant ones above all story; This is the pathway to the modern glory, Which down the years with added power shall pour." * ♦James H. West VI A man's growth toward god " Heaven is not reached at a single bound ; But we build the ladder by which we rise From the lowly earth to the vaulted skies, And we mount to its summit round by round." Joseph H. Mansfield. The vision of the soul's possibilities may be- come more luminous and vivid if seen through the medium of some life that has realised the vision. Such a medium is afforded in the career of Simon Peter. Perhaps more conspicuously than any other apostle, he illustrates the possibilities of the growth of a human life into the likeness of God. There are two portraits of Peter, one taken at the threshold of his apostolic career and the other near its termination, which disclose the fact of the soul's development ; and which, placed side by side reveal the higher possibilities for any human life. The first portrait is given when Jesus said "Thou art Simon Son of Jona; thou shalt be called Cephas which is by interpretation, a 53 54 The Rise of a Soul stone." * It is as though Christ had said : " Thou art a provincial peasant; thou shalt become a world-famed age-making-apostle." In this first portrait Peter is a Galilean fisher- man. He has not looked beyond the rim of hills which serrate his sky-line, nor thought beyond the boats and nets which make his daily toil. He is rash, energetic, impetuous, capable; but he is entirely provincial. The man of Galilee passes by the peasant's fish- ing smack and says " Simon, thou shalt be." From that hour the man's soul thrusts out into a larger world. The second portrait is given when Peter him- self says ; " Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." f It is as though he had said : " Once I thought this world of sight and time all ; now it is but a shadow, for I see the invisible and apprehend the eternal." In the second portrait Simon Peter is apostle and prophet. He has broken through the hills into a horizon that is limitless. He is thinking thoughts, the ebb and flow of whose tide lap the beach of the infinite. He has grown to be an old man. He has endured much. He has lived. He has stamped his personality on the world in such a way it can never forget him, and has helped to found here, in changing time, a king- dom that will endure forever. His sunset hour *Jno. 1:42. f2 Peter 3: 13. A Man's Growth Toward God 55 draws on apace. His work is almost done, and yet he seems never to have had more to live for. He is not ninety years old but ninety years young. The day is at the morn for this veteran of a cen- tury, and in the ecstacy of unspent strength and undiminished enthusiasm, he exclaims : " I see new heavens and a new earth." During the years lying between these two por- traits a wonderful change has taken place in Simon Peter. He has fought many battles. He has conquered self. He has fought and fallen and risen to fight on. All the while, through tempest and calm, through suffering and trial and con- flict, he has been clambering up the heights by which a human soul rises to God. At last he finds himself with the ample world at his feet', in sight of the unseen. It is worth crossing a continent to get the view from the summit of Pike's Peak. One may get swiftly to the top by the cog-wheel railway, he may take a day of it on the back of the poky burro, or he may plod the steep and slowly wind- ing footpath, until he has put fourteen thousand feet between himself and sea-level. Whatever the route, it is the same splendid spectacle. As one rises the view widens, towns and cities come into sight, the foot-hills appear, the plain grows ampler, distant peaks loom ; until at last standing at the summit, there stretches at his feet a limitless ocean of plain, billowed and rolling for miles in all directions, lashed into storm where 56 The Rise of a Soul the foot-hills and lower ranges appear, flecked with foam where the white villages break the dull colour of the plain, and everywhere charming the soul with a vision whose rapture is a thousand- fold compensation for the toilsome climb. It is a faint picture of the rise of a soul out of narrowness and provincialism, out of prejudice and ignorance, up into knowledge and self-dig- nity, into service and victory, into glory and godhood. Such was the climb which Simon Peter made, growing toward God in every struggle, rising into dignity and power with every hardship en- dured and every conflict fought; until at last standing upon the pinnacle of apostolic vision, he looked beyond the rim of mortal ken, and ex- claimed, " I see new heavens and a new earth." It was not accidental, and it did not all come in a day. There is much comfort to be derived from a study of Peter's career. He was so en- couragingly faulty and so entirely human. He was ever making fatal blunders, attempting im- possible feats, essaying inaccessible heights and falling into all but hopeless depths. Somehow, out of it all, he came to higher ground, and through it all, he rose into closer and more har- monious fellowship with him who had promised, " Thou shalt be." The stages of Peter's religious development are marked, and the progress is upward and onward. The first is the day Christ called him to be an A Man's Growth Toward God 57 apostle.* He had never planned beyond his daily task. His highest ambition had been to beat yesterday's catch of fish, or outstrip a rival boat. His fathers had lived thus. Why should he look beyond the nets? One day the Christ called " Come, follow me." That opened his eyes. He caught the vision of life. He saw that he could do more than cast nets and catch fish. He could catch men. And so he left all and followed Jesus. That hour the rise of a soul began. Just there is where it usually begins. It is the discovery that life is more than selling wares and making machines. It is a divine vocation. It is following God. It is tasting the powers of the world to come. When that hour comes, the soul cries for room. The shop cannot confine it longer. The next stage in Simon's growth toward God was the day when Christ named him.f There was a period during which he was com- ing to see that Jesus was divine. It was a grad- ual discovery. One day Jesus suddenly asked his disciples, "Who am I?" And instantly every taper of previous experience seemed to flame in Simon's soul. He saw what he had felt, and cried " Thou art the Christ the Son of the living God." Then Jesus named the unstable disciple " Rock," and declared that on this con- fession he would found his church. Peter has risen high enough to see that his * 1st John 1 : 42. TLuke 9: 20. 58 The Rise of a Soul master is divine. At first he did not see it. Jesus was just an attractive leader. As the soul , rises, the Godhood of Christ comes into view. Peter is far from perfect, but he has a quench- less inspiration now, and an invincible leader. A third stage is marked by that scene on the shore of Galilee after Christ's resurrection.* It was the culmination of the period, during which the man was learning that love is the greatest thing in the world. The period was marked by some of the saddest and most humil- iating incidents of Peter's experience. He had enjoyed transcendent privileges but had blun- dered ingloriously on the mount of transfigura- tion, upon the stormy lake, in agonied Geth- semane, in the garden, and at the hall of judg- ment. How can the master ever care for him again? How can one who has denied his Lord, presume again to represent him? Now One is standing on the shore calling to the weary disciples in the boat. They peer through the gloom of the slowly breaking day to discern his identity. John says, " It is the Lord." Instantly Peter plunges into the sea. He is the first to kneel on the quiet beach, at the Saviour's feet. All that Jesus asks is "Simon, son of Jona, lovest thou me ? " At last Peter makes the great discovery. It is not knowledge nor merit nor even faith. It is love that equips for service. ♦John 21:1-17. A Man's Growth Toward God 59 There was a time when Christ's question would have meant little to Peter, because he had not risen high enough to see the realm it names. Now it means everything, and with a joy that sees what it says, Peter answers: "Yea Lord, thou knowest that I love thee." The day of Pentecost * marked another step in the mount toward greatness. It was the dis- covery of the true source of real power. From this time on Simon Peter's career shows the presence of a new and masterly influence. His first sermon brings 3,000 to Christ. Prison bars cannot hold him. He works miracles. His very shadow routs disease. He has risen to the level of Holy Ghost power. He is a long, long way from the dull days when all the strength he seemed to need was muscle enough to pull the nets. A fifth stage is marked by the baptism of Cor- nelius, f It was the day of Peter's emancipation from Judaism. It was hard for him to rise above the conviction that Jehovah was a Jewish God, and that while he ruled all men, his chosen people enjoyed a monopoly of his favour. The vision of unclean beasts, the command "Rise and eat," and the knock of the servants of the gentile Cor- nelius at the door marked the passing of religious narrowness. Peter has risen high enough to see that no life is too unclean for Calvary to cleanse. All men have a claim on God's grace and a place * Acts 2. f Acts 10. 60 The Rise of a Soul in God's heart. Christ is a world-saviour and Christianity a world religion. The failure to see this does not discount one's faith in Christ. It simply proves that one has not climbed far in the growth toward God. Be- cause one is indifferent to missions and skeptical of the claims of the heathen world to gospel privilege and light, it does not follow that his faith in Christ as a personal Saviour is false. It merely indicates a limited religious experience. He is down among the foot-hills with his vision hemmed in a narrow valley, when he might be on the heights gazing at a world-view. That day he baptised Cornelius, Peter flung away his sect- creed and took the world into his heart. Thus on and on he climbed out of littleness and ignorance out of weakness and prejudice, out of self-conceit and narrowness toward God, until an hour is reached away on the western sky. Martyrdom is on the horizon. Soon the aged apostle is to be put to death. He has no fear. He is living too close to God for earth to imperil his treasures. He sees the new heavens and the new earth. All the ages are his own. He has outgrown the temporal. As persecution sunders the flesh bond, the unfettered soul rises beyond the ken of mortal sight, and the man's growth' toward God continues its ascent in the new heavens he now not merely beholds but tenants. Thus did one man rise out of frail dust into vic- torious spirit. His story is a vision, in actual A Man's Growth Toward God 61 human struggle, of the higher possibilities for every human life. The way is long and hard. There is much to discourage, a poor start, wretched attainments, frequent falls, base denials, shameful apostacies, and such weariness that death sometimes seems a boon. Over against it all is the fact of the soul's ascent. Life is not a product but a growth, and graces are fruits and not the out-put of a fac- tory. The soul is not made perfect at a bound. "First the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear." * The end does not appear at the beginning ; but to him that presses on, the heights are given: until at last, with the summit of the delectable mountains beneath his feet, he is ravished with the apostolic vision. Before him, stretch the plains and cities of the invisible continent : above him bends the glory of a fadeless sky, and on his face flames the light of an eternal day. * Mark 4: 28. SHADOWS " Long is the way, And hard, that out of hell leads up to light." —John Milton. 64 VII THE TRAGEDY OF SIN " What troubles the man is a confusion of the head arising from a corruption of the heart." — Robert Burns. The vision of the rise of a soul is dimmed by mists and obscured by clouds. A shadow has fallen on human life, and its name is sin. The stern voices of the actual and the prac- tical bid us look not at what we may be but at what we are. The soul which essays the ascent of the altar stairs finds itself handicapped, and the struggle is beyond its strength. Human nature is in ruins., and the surround- ings are hostile to restoration. When one turns from contemplation of the vision to a sight of the facts, hope wanes and faith staggers. Sin blocks the way. What is sin? How did it come? Why does it remain? These and a pack of similar questions shriek out their re- sentment against what is; but the facts change not. Sin abides and it must be reckoned with, and conquered if the rise of the soul be achieved. How can a sin-fettered soul rise to God-hood? Sin is the tragic element in human life. It is 65 66 The Rise of a Soul responsible for all human sorrow and suffering. Back of every uncomforted anguish and unas- suaged grief is sin. It is tragic in the story of its entrance into the world. Its entrance is the story of the lost Eden. It is tragic in the story of its cure. Its cure is the story of Calvary. It is tragic in the story of its experience. The Saviour has told that story in the parable of the Prodigal Son. The parable of the Prodigal Son is Christ's treatment of the problem of sin. It is original, unique, convincing and full of cheer. Christ does not argue the problem. He simply paints a picture, but when the brush is laid aside the task is complete. The sinner sees himself, and also sees his God. Christ's treatment of sin is neither philosophical nor theological. He frames no definitions, pro- pounds no dogmas. He is neither metaphysical nor doctrinal. He is pictorial and practical. But so long as a sin-weary soul struggles up the heights toward fellowship with the good and communion with God, the parable of the Prodi- gal Son will be more precious than all tomes of dogmatic divinity and all libraries of philosoph- ical speculations. Christ says nothing about " original sin " and "total depravity," although he was probably orthodox on these themes. He does not rehearse the story of the fall, nor particularise as to the relative heinousness of different sins. He does The Tragedy of Sin 67 not say in so many words that " sin is any want of conformity unto or transgression of the law of God,"* but as one looks at the picture, he feels that this faultless definition of the West- minster divines is terribly true. Jesus tells the story of a human life across whose sky the clouds of sin have drifted, around whose life the gloom of sin has settled in a pall as black as death, until the prospect of recover- ing radiant heights seems gone forever, and the desolate despair of a doomed and depleted life can voice no plea save the confession "I have sinned." As one reads the story he involuntarily says, " He is talking about me. He is telling the story of my wayward life. Mine is the face in the parable picture." Jesus does not linger over the spectacle of an Eden lost some thousand years ago, nor grow sentimental over ruins of great historic interest to the modern dogmatist. He shows the lost Eden reenacted in present experience. With a pathos as sweet and tender as heaven's pity, he yearns over the ruin sin has wrought. Then he mends the broken chord in the harp of life, and breaks the silence with a morning song. Dr. Watson in " The Mind of the Master " f calls the parable of the Prodigal Son a " drama." We may regard it as such, and arrange it in ♦Westminster Shorter Catechism, ans'w. fMind of the Master, p. 101. 68 The Rise of a Soul seven successive acts, eacfi depicting a stage in the experience of the soul, and the whole setting forth with rapid movement and awful vividness the tragedy of sin. The parable opens with a prologue in which Christ states the two moral extremes of the uni- verse. He names them " home " and " the far country." He paints a picture of heaven, and when he has finished, we behold home. Heaven is home- joy, home-rest, home-security, and home-love. It is an open door, a kindly roof, and somebody who cares. He paints a picture of hell, and when he has finished we see the far country. Hell is exile. It is loneliness, friendlessness, cheerlessness, despair. Heaven and hell, home and the far-country — these are the moral antipodes. Between these, every life moves. Under the fatal spell of sin, one turns his back on home and wanders into the far country. . Then a moment when the old love shows its face through the shadows, and under the vision's magic spell, the prodigal forsakes the far country and seeks his father's house. The first act in the tragedy may be called " The freedom of the human will." One is not com- pelled to abide in his father's house. God has dowered the human will with right of choice. He has projected human nature along the lines of free agency. The divine decrees instead of de- The Tragedy of Sin 6g stroying, establish human freedom. One thing which the Almighty has foreordained from all eternity is that when man confronts a moral issue, his will shall be free. To perplex the mind with the effort to explain the harmony between divine sovereignty and human freedom is to take up residence in a fog bank. To ask why God made man capable of sinning is to ask why he made him at all. We may wonder why God did not keep sin out when it came knocking at the door of his world. If he is all he claims, and sin is what he charges, why was not the arm of omnipotent love raised to defend the creature when sin crouched to spring? If he saw our peril, and loves us as a father loves his child, why does not God lay violent hands upon the prodigal and compel sin- lessness? Heaven is no prison house. It is Home. It is not a place where one is kept in by bolts and chains. Its windows are open and its doors swing to the touch of love. If ^heaven is to be heaven, it must be the unfettered choice of an untramelled soul. The second act in the drama is "Individual- ism." Two brothers, with the same parentage, and the same environment are as far apart as the poles of the moral world. One is a steady stay-at- home, the other a prodigal and a vagabond. Temperaments differ. Heredity is something 7